Local Music Reviews

A Few Askew; Keelhaul get graded

A Few Askew forged their full-length debut, Off the Beaten
Path, with an arsenal of styles — death-grind, hip-hop,
jazz-fusion, neo-prog and some brass knuckles. It blasts out of the
chamber with "Bullet," bringing you in close with Latin-tinged guitar
before pistol-whipping your ears with its cold and steely thrash
— a mix of Pérez Prado and Pantera. On "Locked Down," the
quartet brandishes their rap-metal skills with singer Tony Balante
going from sweet psychotropic MC to screaming caged animal. The 14-song
set conquers everything, from transformative eight-minute doom-prog
("Father Bentley") to precise three-minute bursts of speed-metal
("Missing the Train"). — Keith Gribbins

A Few Askew performs with Ideamen, DoHM and American Life at 7
p.m. Friday at the Hi-Fi Concert Club (11729 Detroit Ave.,
216.221.4747, thehificoncertclub.com). Tickets:
$5.

Coming six years after Subject to Change Without Notice, the
(pre)dominantly instrumental Keelhaul's Triumphant Return to
Obscurity suggests Keelhaul spent the interim building steam. The
band is as heavy and crushing as ever, and its fourth LP is its most
rocking yet. Serrated songs like "Everything's a Napkin" tone down the
band's trademark esoteric noodling in favor of jazzy metal grooves.
"THC for One" riffs in hypnotic circles. When frontman/guitarist Chris
Smith does take the mic, his lyrics about defeat and failure are buried
in the mix, like drummer Will Scharf is personally betraying and
beating him mid-song. — D.X. Ferris